Grave Error
The ground bubbled and shook where the soil had been freshly laid. Borborygmic ripples tugged at the earth, boiling below her feet and knocking her to the floor.
She scrambled towards the gate, but the ripples had spread out from one grave and through the whole cemetery.
Skeletal limbs and half-rotted flesh broke the soil and turf. She wished she’d never started. It had been a stupid idea to go out there all alone to test her powers.
Grandma had told her it would help, but the batty old woman was halfway out of her mind anyway. Why had she listened to her? It was dangerous to meddle with the dead. It was even more dangerous to meddle with their souls.
She screamed and took off down the lines of graves, conscious of the gargled moans that bled from their dust dry lips caked in mud. They scratched and clawed towards her, reaching the graveyard gate before she had time to escape.
Maggot filled eyes stared down at her. Bony fingers snatched at her clothes, ripping and tearing the fabric.
There was no way to escape.
She tried to force them all back, using her powers and concentrating but nothing seemed to work. Instead, more joined them, undead eyes rolling in their heads as their half-decomposed tongues gurgled disgusting words of hatred and death.
She scrambled back, her spine colliding with the steel of the graveyard railings. The metal was too high to climb. She would never get out.
Never.
Did you enjoy this piece? Why not try @LadyAntimony’s other challengers’ pieces? You can find a link to everyone participating in the #GhoulsGalore challenge right here.
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rut-roh!
that's what happens when you don't mind grammy!
loved it!
(except that i have no idea what borborygmic means! and i'm too lazy to grab a dictionary tonight!) 🙂
I had no idea what borborygmic meant either, but we had to include the word as part of the Ghouls Galore challenge so I had to find out! I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.
I wondered if might see some more of your necromancers and undead for the 'choose your own' monster. Very different from your other necromancer pieces I've read though, with actually animating physical corpses en masse.
Brilliantly delivered and final ending. "She would never get out.
Never."
From the wording to the punctuation to the spacing, it brought a perfect sense of finality to the young necromancer's mistake.